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Typical cancer treatments, called “chemotherapy” use poisonous drugs to kill the cancer. Unfortunately, the drugs are also poisonous to the rest of the body, not just the cancer. This can mean we can’t use enough drug to kill the cancer as effectively, and the patient experiences nasty side effects like hair loss. If we instead put the drug in a nanoparticle, and programme it to only go to the cancer cells not the healthy cells, we can poison the cancer without affecting the rest of the body. My work is to find out exactly where the particle goes when it is in the cell and how it releases the drug, to try and make this cancer treatment work even better. I do this by following the nanoparticle with a laser, a bit like an alien tractor beam.

The laser has to be aligned precisely so we know where it is and therefore where the particle is. This is a very long task, especially because we cannot see the laser! We have to use cameras and a special optical card to see the laser, and of course wear goggles to protect our eyes in case the laser is reflected into them. So my typical day involves coming in, getting a coffee, and taking up this task from where I left of the previous day. I also make nanoparticles in the chemistry lab, and culture cells in specially designed sterile labs.

Optical card used to view the laser.